Twelfth+Caluri+7

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 * __When was it created?__**

Proposed by Congress December 9, 1803, and ratified June 15th, 1804. (189 days)


 * __Why was it proposed and ratified?__**[[image:Electoral_map.png align="right" caption="Electoral votes of each state" link="http://www.fec.gov/pages/elecvote.htm"]]

In the presidential election of 1800, there was a tie in votes between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr. Under the Constitution, the tie was to be broken by a vote by the House of Representative. Under this method the majority of the members of the House would decide who would be President. This did not seem to be a fair method of electing a President and delayed the entire process…… so the Twelfth Amendment was proposed and ratified.

The election of 1800 showed the flaws from the original system. Thomas Jefferson and his opponent both received 73 votes in the Electoral College. So, what was the problem? Jefferson and his opponent were of the same party. His opponent was chosen as Vice President, some states preferred him. But, neither of them was able to get the required majority, not until after 35 ballots were taken.




 * __What is the Twelfth Amendment and how did it change the way the presidential votes are taken?__**

There was no real change to the Electoral College itself, the Amendment changed the process on how the Electoral College and sometimes how the House of Representatives chooses the President. Now the electors vote for President and Vice President and the electors can not vote for them if they live in the same state they live in. This is different because Article II of the U.S. Constitution before the Twelfth Amendment would make the Vice President the candidate who received the second highest votes and the electors did choose candidate from their own states.

[[image:onion_news510.jpg align="right" caption="George Bush and Al Gore: 2000 Presidential Election"]]
A majority (over 50%) of the electoral votes are still required for someone to be elected to President or Vice President. If there is no majority, the House of Representatives votes by state and chooses who wins as President and the Senate chooses the Vice President the same way if there is no majority votes for the Vice President. Other things that the Twelfth Amendment did were to make rules on who can be President and Vice President. To be either, you need to be over 35 years old, live at least 14 years in the United States and be a natural born citizen. Also to prevent delays, the Twelfth Amendments says that if the House of Representatives can not choose a President by March 4, the Vice President who was elected will be President until one is chosen.


 * __How does it apply today?__**

Today, elections go on to to pick presidents and vice presidents. The President of the Senate opens all the votes and sees who wins. After the popular votes are counted, they count the electoral votes. You need 270 electoral votes to win, and there is a total of 538 electoral votes. Whoever has most electoral votes wins. This is how the twelfth amendment applies today.


 * __What are examples of it?__**

Presidential elections, majority of votes. The 12th amendment has to do with things political and the Electoral College.

__**How do people feel about this amendment today?**__

Some people like this amendment, and some don't. People like it because it gives some power to the small states, and when the presidential elections comes, they count as some votes. For example, Massachusetts, a small state, has 7 electoral votes. Some reasons why people don't like the 12th amendment is because they think its crazy and unfair. One candidate gets more popular votes and another gets more electoral votes. Next thing you know is that the Electoral College chooses someone not you didn't elect or who came in second place with popular vote. People feel about this amendment in many different ways.

My article is about electing the president and vice president. Voters in each group are invited to give speeches supporting their candidate and trying to persuade others to join their group.The undecided voters into their own group and prepare to be courted by supporters of other candidates. States holding presidential elections are open to all of the registered voters. This article wasn't very helpful to our Wiki page. I also didn't really enjoy this article because it didn't really talk about the electoral college. They only talked about it very little.
 * Danielle's Current Event Article."Making Sense of caucuses, primaries, electoral college"**

What's so scary about this year's election? Nothing has changed since the last one. We want a president that is bent on fixing the United States for the best and worst, even if many people vote against him. The system we use makes it too easy to cheat the American people of an election that is fair. The system allows the highest number of Electoral College votes to take the election. One man, one vote, is what we need. We must change the primary system, too. It must allow any person to run. When the next election comes, it will be about voting for people who most seek presidency. If people do not rise up and demand change in election and power, we will have no control. I think we should have the Electoral College taken out, have anyone be able to run for president, and give voting power to all states, big or small.
 * Lauren's Current Event Article. "Every Vote doesn't count under flawed Electoral College system"**

My article was about a plan called the National Popular Vote. What they wanted to do was destroy the Electoral College, and make the president win by popular vote. They felt it was crazy because a candidate can win even though they came in second place. It also said that if a candidate wins the electoral votes in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Florida, they will win the election because that is where most of the commotion goes on. It even talked about Bush and Gore. Bush received 500,000 popular votes less than Gore, but still won the election because he had more electoral votes in the Electoral College. I disagree with this article because the Electoral College gives power to the small states such as Rhode Island. However, the Electoral College does not seem fair occasionally, just like it did in the Bush and Gore election.
 * Marc's Current Event Article. "Bringing the National Popular Vote to NY"**